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Video: Phoenix dust storm causes interstate crash

Transcript of: Phoenix dust storm causes interstate crash

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:And across the country in the
Arizona
desert, about halfway between
Phoenix
and
Tucson
, a huge hazard along the
I-10
today. A blinding dust storm rolled in, causing pileup crashes involving about 30 vehicles both sides of the roadway. At least one man was killed; 15 other passengers were injured in all that.

A blinding dust storm has caused three different pileups along a major interstate in Arizona, killing one man and injuring more than 15 other people.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety says 24 vehicles were involved in the three crashes along Interstate 10.

The first two crashes occurred just after noon near Picacho, about midway between Phoenix and Tucson. Those collisions involved 16 vehicles, including tractor-trailers.

DPS spokesman Bart Graves says two people involved in those collisions are "extremely critical." The heavy dust prevented authorities from using helicopters to get them to a hospital.

The third pileup occurred almost two hours later just north of Casa Grande and involved eight vehicles. Graves says no one was killed in that collision but that two people have serious but non-life-threatening injuries.